Read the full text and add your signature at bit.ly/bamdropbatsheva
50+ (and counting) Artists and Organizations say – BAM: Drop Batsheva, cultural ambassadors for genocide
On January 15, Dancers for Palestine, Theater Workers for a Ceasefire, and Amplify Palestine sent the following email to the President and Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, requesting a response by January 31. BAM leadership did not respond.
Join the signatory organizations and individuals calling for BAM to respect the BDS picket line by refusing to program Batsheva. We recognize that it is as important as ever to escalate pressure for the support of Palestinian liberation, given ongoing violations of the ceasefire in Gaza, the escalating violence in the West Bank, and the continued military occupation and Apartheid system of discrimination.
“We believe it is a grave mistake for you to program Batsheva Dance Company, which is scheduled to perform at the Howard Gilman Opera House March 6th-8th. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes Batsheva as ‘the best known global ambassador of Israeli culture.’ The Company’s role as cultural ambassador reflects the State of Israel’s history of using the arts to launder its image and obfuscate its longstanding practices of apartheid, occupation, and dispossession of Palestinians from their homes and lands. This cynical attempt at “artwashing” further includes contractual obligations requiring artists presenting works internationally with funding from the Israeli state to represent the state and its policies positively.
Multiple times, Batsheva Dance Company has been asked to publicly disavow its role as Israel’s cultural ambassador and publicly affirm a commitment to the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law. Multiple times, too, it has been asked to refuse to participate in the Israeli government’s artwashing efforts and to refuse the sponsorship of Israeli state institutions, including embassies, consulate generals, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its international shows. Such appeals have been met only with silence or dismissal.”
